National 10 (Spotlight Weekly)

Beautiful Aspirations

The newly crowned Miss Nepal 2004 wants to represent her country's cultural heritage in the Miss World Contest

By THAKUR AMGAI

August 6, 2004 marked a major turning point in her life. That day her dream that seemed like a fairy tale in her childhood came true. Payal Shakya, crowned Miss Nepal for the year 2004 did not have high expectations when she joined the training camp for aspiring beauties. It was indeed a moment of great joy to Shakya, when she was announced the beauty queen from among 18 competitors. Probably because she could not believe her ears, tears of happiness rolled down her eyes, a testimony to the softness of women.

Shakya : Eye on the sky

The days that followed have been a series of completely new experiences to her. Not to talk about the congratulation packages arriving at her dwelling, she has been widely sought by the media for interviews and as a guest for various programs. Caught between tight schedules, she has lost count of the number of interviews she has given so far.

Even as a group of women and men were chanting slogans against the practice of beauty contests alleging the multinational companies of commercialization of women as a part of cultural invasion, the five finalists of the Miss Nepal Contest were testing their fate inside the Birendra International Convention Center (BICC) last week.

Born as the second child of Jitendra Shakya and Asha Shakya in 1985 in Kathmandu, Payal has always been fortunate to get support from her family in her attempts to pursue her interests. She nursed the desire of participating in the beauty contests since her childhood. She said beauty pageants seemed like fairy tales to her during her childhood. She got conducive environment both at home and school to groom herself to be a 'beauty queen.' Participating in dance competitions and public speaking boosted her confidence, which finally propelled her to the stage in the Little Lady Beauty Pageant in 1996. Not a very ambitious girl, she was content with the title of Miss Talent then. Her passion and dedication, however, grew and led her to contest the coveted title eight years later.

Shakya did her initial schooling at the Saraswati Boarding Higher Secondary School, from where she passed the School Leaving Certificate in 2002, and joined Little Angels' College to pursue her higher secondary education. An undergraduate student of management, Shakya aims to continue her education and work in corporate sector, and pursue a career in media as her hobby.

Shakya used to anchor a program in NTV Metro named 'hot case.' She has a flair in public speaking and has won contests in public speaking back in her school days.

How does she stand out from the rest of the 17 contestants? "Hard work, dedication and obedience to the instructors," answers a down to earth Payal. "I was not overconfident," she reiterated.

She claims to be well aware of the responsibilities she has to bear as Miss Nepal. To represent Nepal in the Miss World Contest to be held in China later this year is in her first priority. "I want to represent Mt. Everest, Lord Buddha, and our cultural heritage in the contest," Shakya said. "And when I come back I will join anchoring, work as a conservation Ambassador with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) among other activities as per the contract with The Hidden Treasure (the organizer of the contest)."

Any other plans? "I believe in action than in words," Shakya gave a shrewd answer.

To those who protest against such beauty contests, Payal feels 'pity'. "Why can't they understand our honest dedication?" she questions. "It is a forum for exposure to ladies like us and it builds our self confidence, why does it bother them?"

Payal's father, who is an employee at the Soaltee Casino, feels that it is a matter of pride for people of middle class families like themselves to get such awards. "We are very proud of our daughter's achievement," said Shakya. "We have always given first priority to the interest of our daughter."